Amy Wallace and Eric Wickham
The Liberal Government has thwarted Porter Airlines’ plan to begin flying jets out of Billy Bishop Toronto City airport.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau tweeted Thursday night that they will not re-open the tripartite agreement, which currently bans jest from flying to and from the airport.
The agreement also includes the City of Toronto and the Toronto Port Authority. Any amendments to the agreement requires consent from all parties.
The move would have also required a runway expansion.
Some Toronto residents had concerns about the noise and possible environmental effects of the jets.
Citizens group NoJetsTO had been lobbying against the expansion for several years.
“The airport works really well as it is. It’s a great short haul airline for business class users. I think they’re going to do just fine,” said Norman Di Pasquale, Chair of NoJetsTO.
Porter had signed a conditional deal with Bombardier, which would grant them up to 30 new CSeries jets if the expansion had been approved.
Porter said that they were not in a position to provide an interview at the moment.